this is al jazeera. and so good to have you along for this al jazeera news hour live from london with me david foster. we go through the stories we study in detail in the next 60 minutes. a powerful kurdish group in syria says it's ready to declare an autonomous region, a proposal that met resistance from all sides. >> today i am nominating chief judge marerrick garland to join the supreme court. >> he sets up a showdown with

republicans as he names his choice for the country's most powerful court. then there were three. another republican candidate drops out of the race for the white house while mrs. clinton is in pole position for the democratic nomination. the misunderstanding that the u.n. chief that morocco threatening to pull out peacekeepers. i have all the sport. german munich is fighting an almighty battle in the championship right now. i'll have the latest from wednesday's last 16 matches coming up. okay. starting the news hour in the north of syria. there a powerful kurdish group, the pyd, has unveiled plans to establish it's own awe t

autonomous region near syria's northern border with turkey. it's said to hold already three-quarters of the border that you can see. that's about 800 kilometers long. this expected declaration angered syria's opposition as well as the regime and as well as turkey, which has been at war with kurdish rebels on and off for years. anka ra says it supporting it but the unilateral moves are not valid. it happened at syria's government and the main opposition attended talks in geneva from which the kurds were excluded. laurence lee has more from the turkey/syria border. >> reporter: the syrian border town ckobani was also taken untl they fought them off. in hindsight it was crucial in the proposal for the area with

the political win of control which would stretch to iraq. on the turkish side of the border there's support, and in the poverty-stricken conditions just as much backing. >> translator: i support this initiative. kurds are also people. they deserve to have a home. nobody recognizes us. they hit us wherever we are. >> reporter: now the kurds across the border have stolen the initiative. it's the timing of this that is so extraordinary. not only on just day three of geneva have the kurds even though they weren't invited manage to insert nemsz back into the talks. the announcement comes a tu days before kurdish new year on march 21st. it could be that the kurds want to appear nounce oughton my in syria as part of the new year's celebrations. there's opposition from many sides. in aleppo many said partitions

off the kurdish area went against the aims of the revolution being one syria for all irrespective of ethnicity or religion. >> translator: this is a tyranny from the ypg. they're a group on the terrorist list. >> translator: this is really bad. the kurds are making themz enemies of the syrian revolution. they're part of the syrian people like everyone else. what if the drews and ellow would its sapt they want their own state. it's unacceptable. >> reporter: the kurds tried to offset the arguments by claiming it will be a home for turkman and arab citizens as well as kurds and their federalism can be a model for the rest of the syria to follow. for once the people of aleppo and governments of damascus and anka ra have something to agree

about. >> so the pyd is the group we mentioned hasn't been invited to those u.n. banks in geneva where they're in direct talks. the group sent ripples through all of the syrian factions. james bay has more. >> reporter: as the talks in geneva continue, a group not invited forced them onto the agenda. u.n. envoy decided to exclude the pyd from the process for now under pressure from turkey, which calls the kurdish party a terrorism group. the deputy told reporters the question of federalism was an issue to be decided by the representatives of the syrian people at the talks. >> translator: the u.n. position is very clear when it comes to this. every syrian that i spoke to

stands with the unity and sovereignty of the nation. >> reporter: the head of the pyd actually turned out for the last round of talks in january before he found out he was not invited. other opposition members say his party should be excluded because they've been working with the assad regime. >> translator: only when they openly announce they disengage with the regime completely, only then will they have a place in the syrian revolution and welcomed with open arms as part of the opposition delegation in geneva. >> reporter: the syrian government chief negotiator ignored my question as he arrived for his first session here since russia started pulling out forces. later he explained that was a joint decision. >> our friends and allies, the russians, came to syria by a

joint decision, and today they will leave. it will be done through a joint syrian/russian coordination action. >> reporter: he then used the opportunity to attack the high negotiations committee, who has been at the same podium a matter of hours earlier and in particular of the islam fighting group who is a prominent member of the committee. >> translator: it's not an honor at all to sit with a terrorist this direct talks. he belongs to a terrorist faction that has hit embassies and killed citizens. that's why we won't have direct talks unless this terrorist apologizes for what he's done and withdraws the suggestion. and then he should shave his beard. >> reporter: those most undiplomatic comments show the mistrust behind the scenes on a day where the announcement by the pyd only make this process even harder. james bays, al jazeera, at the

united nations in geneva. president obama has nominated a federal judge to be the newest u.s. supreme court justice. merrick garland is currently chief judge of the federal appeals court in washington, d.c. al jazeera's rosalynn jordan has more on the nomination and the controversy that will surround it. >> today i am nominating chief judge marerrick garland to join the supreme court. >> reporter: on wednesday merrick garland began his moment in the public eye. the obama administration released a video introduction to garland signalling at the present times to have a public fight over the pick. >> i think that's what judges are supposed to do, make sure that they're faithful to the constitution and law and the people's trust that they come before a judge they'll get an honest hearing. >> reporter: this could be the only time the public hears from judge garland. when justice antonin scalia died

in february, senate republicans said they wouldn't approve anyone nominated to replace him because obama is in his last months in office. their leader re-affirmed the rep republicans' plan to do nothing. >> it's the president's constitutional right to nominate a justice and it's the senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold its consent. >> reporter: the president praised garland's real world experience. he oversaw the prosecution of the oklahoma city bomber, timothy mcveigh. obama called on senate republicans to do what he said was the right thing. >> it will not only be an ab domestic of the senate's constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair. it will mean everything is subject to the most partisan of politics, everything. >> reporter: a political observer says obama isn't going

to get what he wants. >> once they've taken a position over here that says, i'm not going to vote. i will not confirm this seat. it's very hard to get them to just flip their position and only doing it because of political considerations is not something that is a very strong position to take heading into an election. >> i'm grateful beyond words for the honor you have bestowed upon me. >> reporter: he heads to capitol hill on thursday to start his round of courtesy visitors with senators. it may take more than that to persuade them to give him a hearing. rosalynn jordan, al jazeera, washington. >> let's go to washington and bring in the constitutional lawyer bruce fine. mr. fine, most people seem to think this isn't going to happen. why would president obama want to do it at all? >> well, i think it is a political blunder. if he was going to expect the senate to react to this nomination, he would have to nominate someone to create

political outside pressure that would suggest the republicans could lose in november if they balked. that would be a nominee that was hispanic, that was a woman, who was black or all three, if that's possible. merrick garland has no outside political traction whatsoever. it's a little puzzling as to why the nomination was made. aside from the fact when he lectures the senate, which i suppose he can there. they have a constitutional duty to act, this is a president who goes to war on his own. he does treaties on his own. he spies without congressional authorization on his own. so you got the pot calling the kettle black here, and that's clearly not going to move the republicans. in an odd way he really had a chance. >> you can understand it if the republicans saw somebody from the other side of the political rainbow get into the supreme court. they obviously wouldn't like it. they want their own person in there. i would guess that also hillary clinton or bernie sanders wouldn't want to see an obama nominee in there if they became

the president of the united states. they'd like to see their own person in there as well. >> that's exactly right. that's another element of the blunder here. we know that hillary clinton and bernie sanders would not have nominated merrick garland. he's a centrist and middle of the road and maybe on the left side, but not the kind of voice that you would want to give a real liberal hue to the court's juroisprudenc jurisprudence. they're silently cheering the republicans on to do nothing and promising their constituents if i'm in the white house, i will appoint one of us to the supreme court. merrick garland is not one of us in the political sense, which i say just underscores why it's politically mystifying the nomination was made at all. >> it's mystified and we don't know why he stuck his finger into the hornet's nest, but he has done it. help those of us outside the united states understand why the appointment of one justice, one

legal brain to the highest court in the land in the united states is so sensitive, is so important? . >>. >> there were a couple of elements that converge here. the supreme court is nine. that's been the case for over 150 years, although congress could change the number. i think it's probably politically very stable. in many, many critical areas of the law, anthony -- antonin scalia was a fifth vote in 5-4 divisions between the court. him leaving the court means that if you replace that ninth member with someone on the liberal side, you could count on your hands if you're a scholar to find out cases of abortion, gay rights, freedom of speech, presidential powers. you can just see where scalia's vote pushed it towards the conservative side, and now you see it on the liberal side. that's why it's very important. i want to underscore as well i

think the hype about the nomination exaggerates the importance of the supreme court. it acts in a very slow way. the guantanamo cases got to the court seven or eight years after gb guantanamo bay was open. if you ask where the greatest influence will be in the next five or ten years or more in the united states, it's going to be in the white house. it dwarfs the supreme court in importance, and in my judgment to think that the fate and future of the country rests on who the success of scalia has is a vast overstatement. >> thank you very much. coming up on the news hour, the united states hits north korea with more sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile tests. why argentina may soon be able to return to world credit markets. we have the sport fifa seeking to get back tens of millions of dollars taken illegally by former executives.

news out of brussels now where two suspects are still on the run after a raid on an apartment in brussels. police have revealed that the man killed in a shoot-out there was armed with an assault rifle and was found with an isil flag. four officers were left injured in the incident, which police say was connected to november's attacks in paris. emma heyward has more now from brussels. >> reporter: specialist police officers and forensic teams carefully examined the apartment where gunmen had opened fire hours earlier, aiming to try to establish exactly what they were doing there. by daylight, those who witnessed it unfold were still trying to understand what happened in the house opposite theirs. >> you heard a lot of shooting. you at some time heard an

explosion, too. i really didn't know what was really happening. >> reporter: police have identified the gunman shot dead during the operation as mohammed bell al kiyed. he was living in bem belgium illegally. >> next to the body was a rifle as well as a book. also a flag of isis was found in the flat as well as a numerous shell casings. no explosionives were found. >> whether belgians and french police arrived at the apartment in force, they expected to carry out a routine search of an employment apartment. instead they encountered fierce resistance, resulting in a standoff lasting several hours. dwo people are still on the run. this is the back of the property where two of the suspects are thought to have been able to get

out making the escape in that direction. the paris attacks where 130 people were killed. it's known, though, that the paris plot was planned in brussels four months on questions remain about the intelligence failings leading up to the attacks. belgium remains at the heart of the investigation. emma heyward, al jazeera in brussels. >> while french police have arrested four people in and around paris with one suspected of planning an attack, french media reporting that three men and a woman were arrested at dawn. the news agency quoted police sources as saying that the group had been under surveillance and one member was under house arrest since late february. >> translator: we have information about one person that suggests that he could undertake violent actions in france. this man could have been in

contact with people in syria and members of islamic state. this person was arrested this morning along with three persons linked with him and checks are underway. so i call on everyone to remain extremely cautious regarding some information on a planned and imminent violent action. we arrest people every day. >> reporter: the main suspect who was detained on wednesday is a 20-year-old frenchman of moroccan origin. he's someone who is already known to the police. he was arrested back in 2012 as he was planning to board a flight to go to syria suspected of wanting to go and fight there. now, he's only just been released from prison in october of last year. in fact, he was already being held under house arrest since the end of february as part of the state of emergency here in france. now, he was arrested as were three members of his entourage. that's how they've been described by the french

authorities. his girlfriend and two other men, brothers, french nationality of turkish origin. during the searches, apparently no actual weaponry was seized. just some computer material, usb keys, and also a safe. apparently the arrests took place within the context of the heightened state of alert in france at the moment. it's not clear to what extent any plans they might have had were actually being prepared or made concrete. certainly one commentator on french media describes it as an intellectual project rather than anything that had been advanced further than that. clearly in the current climate and especially given those arrests linked to the paris attacks that took place in belgium on tuesday, french police decided it was better to be prudent in the current circumstances. >> that was jackie reporting from paris. the german navy rescued hundreds

of refugees off the libyan coast. more than 600 people were brought ashore on wednesday in italy. the u.n.'s refugee agency says more than a million refugees have crossed into europe this year via the agean sea. thousands are stuck where borders are closed down. they include thousands not from syria and therefore unlikely to given any kind of asylum. we have the report from the greek island of lesbos. >> reporter: with the macedonian border closed, greece is a giant holding pen for refugees. most of them are on the island of lesbos live in proper camps. those from other countries rough it up in a tented camp set up by volunteers from across the globe. a place in this makeshift camp is the only welcome they received and perhaps the warmest

they will get. >> some people are facing the great problem. they're not exactly taking a breath just like that. what is going on? i have no idea. it's a crucial time for me. i have never, ever seen this situation in my life history. >> reporter: those here are mainly from afghanistan, pakistan and morocco. the european union considers them economic migrants and unqualified for refugee status. the number of refugees continues to rise here every day. it's now a place of limbo for hundreds. they cannot go any farther. the border is closed to them. every day the volunteers struggle to give the most basic of humanitarian assistance to the desperate people. she's from denmark. >> i'm amazed by these human beings and they still smile and i'm amazed they still say thank you. if you were in a situation where all the time the only answer you got is there's no solution,

you're not recognized, it would be hard. >> reporter: as europe pins its hoping on stopping this misery on the recently agreed deal with turkey, many here fear they will be returned. when you have just left and risked everything to get here, that might seen inconceivable. >> . >> translator: we can't go back to our countries. what will we live on if we return. >> reporter: there's a gram of cricket in a dull setting. it's a bleak prospect. >> all of those makeshift shelters in the french refugee site known as the jungle have been cleared now. only common structures such as the mosque and places to eat, the canteens, are still standing.

some have moved into makeshift camps near by. the u.s. president is imposing new sanctions on north korea for recent nuclear missile tests. the executive order is in response to january's hydrogen bomb test or claim of a hydrogen bomb test, and last month's ballistic missile launch. the white house says the u.s. and its allies continue to impose costs on north korea until it meets international obligations. within the country itself of north korea a u.s. student is sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state. he was arrested in january for trying to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel in pyongyang. he tearfully told a press conference that he had made the worst mistake of his life. the white house calling for him to be pardoned. >> the allegations for which

this individual was arrested and imprisoned would not give rise to arrest or imprisonment in the united states or in just about any other country in the world. now, despite official claims that u.s. citizens arrested in north korea are not used for political purposes, it is increasingly clear that the north korean government seeks to use these u.s. citizens as pawns to pursue a political agenda. now that he went through this criminal process, we strongly urge the north korean government to pardon him and grant him special amnesty and immediate release. morocco is threatening to pull soldiers out of the u.n. peacekeeping missions because of comments by bank ki-moon. they accused him of staying take sides. morocco says bank ki-moon insulted the moroccan people. there were demonstrations here, and it plans to reduce staff at the western sahara mission to

end its financial contribution, too, to operating costs. a little bit earlier a u.n. spokesman defended what the secretary-general bank ki-moon had had to say. >> we do hope to, as i said, move on to a more -- to a constructive and positive relation with morocco. we're obviously taking note and have to deal with the decisions they've taken. the secretary-general said what he said. he does not walk away from it. he expressed from what i said yesterday, he expressed regret that there was a misunderstanding of the use of the word. that's it. >> hour morocco's tourist minister said on the program that bank ki-moon's comments were inappropriate. >> the secretary-general crossed a red line, and it's a parlance that's never been used by a secretary-general before and has not been used by the united

nations security council. the united nations and the secretary-general are supposed to be impartial in this conflict. we don't think that we occupy western sahara. we think that we liberated those provinces. we have developed, and we have invested a lot of money in those kinds of provinces, and we have like brought them from poverty in 1975 to what they are now. i mean, like, nevertheless we work with the united nations to find the solution. we don't think that there is a conflict. we think that it's not an official conflict that has been pushed and has been nurtured by algeria. we don't think that there's a problem in the western sahara. there's a problem with a few people that have been like trained and also by algeria. china's foreign minister is requesting an investigation into the sinking of a boat the argentina tyne navy. they said it was illegally fishes in their waters.

instead of responding to warnings, it rammed the naval vessel. the fishing boat sank after shots were fired at its hull. its four crew members were then rescued and arrested. argentina congress approved repayment of the creditors. if approved it would allow argentina to re-enter global credit markets. this defaulted on almost $100 billion 15 years ago. daniel has the report now from buenos aires. >> reporter: argentina's dispute with the holdout funds over billions of dollars of unpaid debt is a shadow hanging over political and economic development. the new president maurice seo macri took office last september determined to resolve it and re-open the country to much knife needed foreign investment. >> it's going to improve

argentina's reserve standing forward looking at their capacity to access financial markets. >> reporter: the former argentina president called the hedge funds vultures preying on vulnerable countries. talks broke down and argentina took the dispute to the united nations. they backed the right to protect them from creditors was approved overwhelmingly by the general assembly. creditors weren't happy. >> i've been involved in 25 sovereign negotiations of countries from liberia to ivory coast to greece, ecuador, russia. argentina really stands out as a country that refused to talk. >> reporter: one of the largest hedge funds, nml capitol, had a ship impounded on a goodwill visit to ghana. for the hedge funds, the argument is simple. debts must be paid and paid with interest.

however, a moral argument has arisen. the previous argentinian government questioning where a few hedge funds should hold sway in the interests of profit over whole countries. countries often rebuilding vulnerable economies. the larger hedge funds have been holding out for payment plus interest. their case backed by a judge in new york where the debts were bought. some debts have been paid with creditors accepting reduced offers. argentina's financial sector says the dispute is a huge impediment to growth. >> i think argentina is slowly but surely coming back into the radar of international investors. they're still a bit cautious on this problem, but there have been many things which have been proven regarding foreign investors. >> reporter: argentina's economic problems are not over. reserves are still low and inflation is still high, but the

hope on the street is at least one overbearing conflict from their troubled past may soon be resolved. al jazeera, buenos aires. coming up on the news, the all-female peace-keeping force on patrol in south sudan's capital. we have the sport and bangladesh's cricketers trying to catch up at the world t-20 championship. hang on a second. hang on. maybe, maybe.

>> stopping the next generation of isis recruits.

teaching the youth on the front lines. working towards a better future. >> this is one of the most important sites in the century. >> proudest moment of my life. you're watching the news hour with me, david foster. time to go through some top stories this hour. a kurdish plan for the largely independent region in syria is dismissed. turkey and the syrian government and opposition. the u.n.-brokered talks in geneva rejected the idea. merrick garland has been formally nominated by the u.s.

president to be the next justice on the supreme court. the decision needs to have a seal of approval from the senate. the senate said it will block the nomination. morocco is threatening to pull soldiers out of u.n. peace-keeping missions because of comments made by bank ki-moon. they say morocco occupies a contested region of western sahara, a comment that morocco said insulted its people. now to our top story. let's go back to the kurdish call pour a largely independent region in the north of syria. let's bring in a middle east analysts who is also a fellow at the arab gulf states institute and joining us live from washington. what kind of autonomy if any do the kurds in that part of northern syria have now, and why would they ask for this particular moment? >> look, what we have seen in syria is the facts on the

grounds are constantly changing. it's an extremely fluid situation. on one hand we have seen that by default, if you will, syria has divided into four parts. you have the part that is under the control of the syrian regime under president bashar al assad. you have the part of the country under isil's control, and the third part has been under the control over the syrian kurds. the fourth part, which is really the critical part where a lot of the fighting is taking place, is in the besieged areas. so it should not come as a surprise that the syrian kurds, who, by the way, are supported both by the united states through its international coalition and its training program of its kurdish pash measuring ga forces have boosted

this movement for quite some time. >> let me come at it from this ang angle, if i may. if the kurds believe that they are owed something many this part of syria for the work they did for taking on isil, for example, in recapturing the town of kobani, do they think by saying we're going independent or to some degree independent is the only way of getting their voices heard because everybody else is saying it doesn't matter what work you've done. we're not really going to listen to. >> i don't think that's really what it is about. i think that the principal game going on right now is the ongoing talks in geneva. we know that the preconditions for the peace talks in geneva to have taken place have changed. in the past different conditions were that bashar al assad had to step down from the power before any talks could resume. the compromise made between the

americans who had demanded this and the russians who supports assad, the compromise that was made was that the syrian kurds would not be a party to the peace talks. >> so the kurds have been left to say this is the only way to get our voice heard? >> this is not the only way that they will get their voice heard, but it is an ongoing recognition that these -- that the syrian kurds are threatened by the islamic state. this is really the only way for them to on one hand protect their independence and security. on the other hand, we're looking at the evolving strategic situation in the middle east where you all of a sudden have u.s. pulling back from its fight against isis. we know that the obama administration now in its last year in office is really going on auto pilot when it comes to defeating isis. we know that the russians

withdrew yesterday, and so what alternatives are the kurds left with? >> okay. thank you. >> i think that -- >> thank you. thank you very much indeed. they have no other choice. we appreciate your time. thank you. an all-female peace-keeping force is on the ground in south sudan capital patrolling camps where displaced people are getting more shelter if they can and they're keeping out an eye for trouble trying to make sure everybody gets their fair share of food and water. from juba, anna kavell reports. >> reporter: meet mary. she's the leader of a team of female peace-keepers protecting families at this idp camp in south sudan. she wants to give a message of peace to her community. >> translator: we don't want women fighting each other. >> reporter: she and her colleagues are trying to reduce the violence that happens often in these cramped conditions. people around here for safety

when the war started more than two years ago and most are afraid to leave. the people that live here are from the nuwar tribe, which is generally associated with the opposition because the town outside the gates are controlled by government, people say it's not safe to venture out. the women peacekeepers come from the community, so it's easy to hear about what's going on. they stop people in the street, catch up on the news and look out for potential problems. after years of living under them and living on minimal food and water, crowds turn angry very quickly. in a situation where food is distributed and tempers are running high, the women's piece keeping force is a soothing presence. they come unarmed in contrast to the u.n. peacekeepers and not threatening to the crowd. the severity of the cases they deal with varies. on this day it was a boy being bullied by his friends, but on others it could be domestic violence or reuniting lost children with their families. at the end of her patrol, mary

reflects on the benefits she and her colleagues have brought to the camp. >> translator: my job is positive. why? because since we started, no woman has fought with another woman. the women wearing these pink shirts, if we find people fighting, we stop them. >> reporter: the people in this camp say they want leaders to stop fighting so they can return to their homes. until they can do so, mary and her team are doing their part to make sure they're safe where they are. anna kavell, south sudan. in the united states the race for the republican presidential nomination now down to just three candidates. marco rubio has pulled out. nomination votes in five more states were for donald trump and hillary clinton pull away in their respective contests. marco rubio suspended his campaign after losing to trump in his home state of florida. trump winning, too, in illinois,

north carolina and missouri. john kasich, the governor of ohio, no real surprise he won that state. that was a blow to mr. trump. the result pushes trump closer to the number of delegates needed to secure the republican nominati nomination. 621 and he needs roughly double that number. on the democratic side hillary clinton beats bernie sanders in four states and she has almost doubled they are tally. a fairly firm favorite to clench the nomination. those are the fabricings and figures. let's get the emotions now. >> i grew up in a little town. >> reporter: his home state of ohio put him back in the race. >> when you listen and find your purpose, you're on fire. >> reporter: after winning just one state, analysts say he has one strategy available to him, team up with the other anti-trump candidate. >> we welcome you to our team.

>> texas senator ted cruz to block the billionaire. >> the possibility that kasich wins the nomination outright through delegates and virtually zero, but there's now a much greater chance that he and perhaps with ted cruz as well could deny trump the absolute majority of delegates, and then we go to the summer and see how the republicans try to sort this all out. >> reporter: if that happens the republican party would have the first contested convention since 1948. the delegates are freed up and the party negotiates a solution and then anything can happen and any candidate can win the nomination for the ultimate prize. after sweeping florida, north carolina, missouri and illinois, donald trump now has about half the 1237 delegates he needs to seize the republican nomination for president. for hillary clinton after winning all five tuesday primaries the road ahead looks clearer than ever. >> the democrats really are consolidating around their front-runner, secretary hillary

clinton gaining votes. she's enlarging her margin of delegates and well on a path toward the nomination. >> reporter: clinton's democratic rival bernie sanders has vowed to stay in the race until the end. increasingly she's focusing her fire past sanders. >> that doesn't make him strong. it makes him wrong. >> for the man she seems to expect to be her rival in november, donald trump. al jazeera, washington. >> with me is james deboyce, a political historian specializing in the united states and also the author of "hillary rising." we have mrs. clinton wins and donald trump winning so far so much the same. we have other candidates dropping out in terms of the republicans. we've seen that before. we have other contests to get. we've seen a lot of these before. what have we learned that's brand-new that's surprising? >> we're further down the line.

half the states have voted and half the delegates have been awarded so we're in a far clearer position to understand where the race is. the fact that rubio has droppeded out now will make life that much more difficult for donald trump, because the opponents of donald trump within the republican party can coalesce around cruz or kasich for example. more likely cruz. the route for donald trump is more dim. he needs 50% of all delegates moving forward to make that magic number of 1237. >> what we see here is that trump's opponents could have enough votes to prevent him automatically winning the nomination? >> correct. >> we get to the convention in the height of summer. if trump doesn't get it first time around, anybody can vote any way they want. >> correct. not only that, but people that haven't campaigned so far can jump in the race. mitt romney could say you want an elder statesman i'm here.

paul ryan could jump in. >> he said he wouldn't. that's a name to watch out for. mr. trump, in that case, would say, hang on. okay. you don't want me? i tell you what. the american people want me, and i've got the money to run an independent campaign. what happens then? >> you're absolutely right. at that point he's likely to take his hair, his ego and billions of dollars and his millions and millions of supporters and do a staged war count and say i'm running as an independent conservative candidate. >> he is helped by the fact that john kasich as expected governor of ohio took ohio. >> this is very, very true. kasich stays in the race, and could be to be quite honest that a moderate republican like kasich could well emerge on the second or third ballot as the official republican party candidate. >> it would be fun, wouldn't it? not one for more than 50 years, a brokered kweng. >> it's been a long time. ohio is the bellwether state.

if he's the president or vice presidential candidate and carry ohio, that makes life difficult for the democrats. >> quickly on the democratic side. missouri, the show me state, we think it will go to clinton. but at the moment bernie sanders is challenging that. is he effectively sort of railing against the dying of the light. >> pretty much. sanders can only stay in and be a spoiler. he'll push hillary to keep her yoet unquote honest. hillary clinton is in the bag at this point. she's in the exact opposite position she was eight years ago. all sanders can do is eat support away. as long as she keeps doing as she's doing, she's thele nomi e nominee. >> to wrap it up, if there's a brokered convention, that's the republican votes and mrs. clinton is on her way to 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> which would be an exact rerun of 1992 when you saw a split on the right for ross perot that

allowed bill clinton to win the presidency. >> thank you. good to talk to you. well, one of america's busiest rail networks, the washington metro, could be closed for a second day. there was an emergency shutdown on wednesday. a maintenance crew could only try to repair the power cables to the train. it caused massive disruption in the nation's capital. tom ackerman still going to work to do this report. >> reporter: hundreds of rail cars serves the washington's area idled as maintenance workers expect all the cables supplying power to the network's train after a tunnel fire raised safety concern. it's the first nonweather-related closure since this mainly underground metro opened 20 years ago. it forced 700,000 commuters to search for alternative transportation. >> for everybody's safety, move back and get off the driver. >> reporter: all in all the situation i have might have been

a lot worse, because all nonemergency government workers were offered the option to take this as an unscheduled leave day or working from home. the system's passengers have become accustomed to chronic breakdowns. >> it's not the worst but the best either. >> there's a lot of work to be done on that, and i think it's just sort of a sign that there's an aging system. we need to replace the cars and replace the infrastructure. >> reporter: government resources have failed to keep up with the challenge. >> the growth, the shear growth that the country has been experiencing is, i think, a troubling trend given how much we're investing and how we're investing today. >> experts say the u.s. has become dangerously neglectful intends to utter elements of its infrastructure. the american society of civil engineers rates the energy grid roads, aviation systems and dams in poor condition. a recent report warned that larj proportion of the water supply infrastructure, quote, is

approaching or has already reached the end of its useful life. as witnessed the crisis in flint, michigan where corroded pipes led the city to switch the water source to a dangerously polluted river. by one estimate the u.s. would need to come up with more than $3 trillion to tackle its infa structure needs in the next five years, but where the money would come from is a question that both the federal and state governments are struggling to address. tom ackerman, al jazeera, washington. we have the sport just after this break. do stay with us, particularly if you're a fan. chris gail has been added again. england once again the victors.

as we join the cup, is it really that big? they need more than one team to carry it home. time for the sports. >> thank you very much, dave, as well. in the last few minutes barcelona confirmed their place in the quarterfinals of the champions league. barcelona is the defending champions and beat arsenal 3-1. one of the goals is a common courtesy of messi. the aggregate score was 5-1. meanwhile munich is still in action right now. their game went to extra time. they look to be cruising to a place in the quarters, but in the 90th minute they take this to 2-2. it's 4-4 on aggregate. fifa is seeking tens of millions of dollars in

compensation from the former executives at the heart of the united states corruption investigation. the organization has submitted a 22-page claim to the u.s. attorney's office in new york. why they want a big share of the $190 million already forfeited by former football and market officials who have pleaded guilty. in addition to compensation for their legal costs and brand damage as a result of the case, a total of 41 individuals have been charged by u.s. authorities to date for the first time fifa admitted that bribes were taken in exchange for world cup votes. earlier we spoke to international sports attorney david larkin, and he says fifa is trying to prove to the u.s. authorities that they're the victims and they're doing what they can to restore their image. >> one can argue that fifa

arguably was aware of some of this and had prior knowledge of it and didn't act. so i think it was a very, very -- i think it took a lot of hutspa for fifa to file this. there's the admission that there was corruption and would suggest that the other bidding parties at this point could possibly file for recovery of all the expenses related to the bids that appear to have been fraudule fraudulent. that, to me, is the most interesting angle on this today. >> well, all matters between saudi and iranian football teams are to be played at neutral venues. that's the ruling from the asian football confederation. the saudi government has banned any of its nationals from traveling to iran due to poor relations between the countries. saudi and iranian clubs will meet in the champions league and have until march 25th to submit proposals for the neutral venues. cricket news in the west indies and they have got their

world 2020 campaign off to a winning start. they beat england in a super tense match in mumbai. he made 48 to help his team reach 182. so i understandies winners, one was an explosive form smashed 11 sixes in his 47 of the century and tied the record for the third fastest time in t-20 international. he was voted man of the match comfortably led the korean side to a sixth wicket when they face sir sri lanka next. >> it was great to see how we played even from the start. i think this is a -- one of the things that have possibly for this ground, and we try to make sure they didn't go past that. i was happy to see how things went in the field, too.

so i think you think of yourself and what we do in the field is going to make us do in this tournament. >> pakistan recorded a big win over bangladesh. they led the way early for pakistan. he smashed 64 before being called out at the boundary with the brilliant catch. he kept the scoring going blasting 49 from 19 balls as they posted and turned in 1 of 4 or 5 from the innings. he then followed up with the ball claims two wickets as bangladesh were balled out 55 runs of the victory target. >> i think this support is coming in calcutta. we've been hearing that pakistan is. and that's something very great. the support is always there. pakistan as a whole nation is always begging us, even if we don't do well, they always back us. we still believe that this sport wi remain the same, but we have to show the maximum results for

them, what they are waiting for. the path for cuban baseball to the major leagues is set to get easier. the obama administration announced changes to business relations between the united states and cuba on tuesday. it means that the mlb clubs can sign cuban baseballers directly and pay them salaries. while it would end the often dangerous journeys taking by players in an attempt to reach the u.s. an nfl star is allowed time off from his day job to compete at the olympics. he's a super bowl winner with the new england patriots, put he's also a former usa rugby 7 players. he's been permitted to take the leave of absence and hopes to claim a spot in the u.s. team. he will rejoin the patriots after agent. tennis' word number three is through to the fourth round in

california. it was tested by philip shriver. he attempted to avoid an upset by sealing victory on the fifth match point. 7-5, 7-5 the final score. that's all your sports from now. i hand you back to david in london. >> thank you very much indeed. just to remind you what we'll look at in the next 30 minutes on al jazeera. that claim by kurds living in northern syria they should have more say over a pick lar area of the country being described by some people as an autonomous area and by others as a call for a federal area. wlaefr it is, there's an awful lot of people, turkey, and the syrian government and opposition that doesn't like the idea of that. we explore it in more detail in just a moment. aljazeera.com has all the information you could ever want. aljazeera.com. thanks for watching the news hour.

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